Best Dam Bike Ride (part II)

Well, back from a wonderful weekend with a great group of people. As you may recall last week I wrote about a possible ride that I was doing this week. The catch is that I had to raise at least $250 (in less than a week). I kind of had my doubts but after just a couple of days I had reached my mark and the contributions continued to come in. I first wanted to give a shout out to all those that so generously gave. Thanks!

Now, I knew that I was going to ride and whenever I get to ride that is a GOOD thing. But I seriously had NO idea about this particular ride. This is THE biggest ride here in Utah. More than 3000 participants. It was amazing. There were many teams. Some as big as 150+. It was pretty cool. We decided to leave early Saturday morning instead of staying up there. Then we realized that MOST of the cool people camp at the Fairgrounds. It was a serious bike party. I don't know if other states have similar activities but this a pretty big party.

Saturday we had the option of riding, 40, 75, or 100 miles. Of course we wanted to be out there as long as possible. Few of you know that I was born in Logan so Cache Valley is home. We rode a basically flat course (a few rolling hills) thought the countryside of the Valley. Part of it was in Utah and part in Idaho. A number of tiny town none of which I had ever been (or heard of before). Towns like Cache Junction, Newton, Trenton, Lewiston, Cornish, Weston, Franklin, and Richmond. It was a beautiful day, good support, and of course awesome riding.

Afterwords, a big party complete with salad and lasagna, music, awards, and even the Harmons' guys, Bob and Randy on stage. We learned that the organization was planning on raising over 1.7 million dollars for the MS Society. That is the biggest fund raiser in Utah.

Today, we rode another 50+ miles namely up to Hardware Ranch. Another beautiful day and a great ride. This was my first back to back riding days at these kinds of distances. I have often thought of going on a multi-day cycling trip in Europe would be a dream but I'm not sure how your body takes that kind of a beating.

The only sad part was because of the large numbers there were a number of accidents. No one died but there were a number of "ambulance come and take people to the hospital" tragedies, I plan on riding next year and raising more money than I did this year. No pictures yet because Rich took his camera with him on his trip back East this week.

Am I moving?

You know this has so many meanings, so many possibilities. You could never know. But today it is a reaffirmation of an idea posed by David Pollay. Like he said, "momentum is powerful". We must always be moving forward. Hmmm. Where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah, in Sunday school each week for the past 40+ years of my life. So I'm here to state to all those in Blogville, I'm on a mission. I want YOU to be on my team (if you're up to it). I want your help. I want your support. Do you know why? Because it feels good. So ask yourself, "Am I moving?" Because I am.

IT'S OFFICIAL!

Best Dam Bike Ride

This weekend I am riding for a good cause. The Harmons Best Dam Bike Ride is this weekend in Logan, UT. I'm pretty excited about this. Here is their home page. Here is the catch. In order for me to ride, I have to raise a certain amount of money. All of the money goes directly to the MS foundation and it is tax deductible. Furthermore, they have made it SUPER easy to contribute. Just click on this link to go to the website and there you can contribute even just a small amount. I sent messages to my "friends" this morning but I know that a number of people read this blog. I want to ride this weekend and this is a way you can help me. Let's make it happen!

An Inconvenient Truth

Someone PLEASE explain to me how this is "energy-efficient". The revered Al Gore apparently requires his own mini power plant just for his home. AFTER making his home more environmentally-friendly last year his home requires 1,600+ kWh MORE energy. HUH? $16,533 a month on electricity a month? Are you freakin' kidding me? Read the article yourself.

Carbon footprint

Yeah, whatever. Even though I deal with environmental issues every day, I'm not really buying this carbon footprinting stuff (sorry). However, I thought I'd do my part and ride to work yesterday. That was great! Just over 20 miles in just about an hour. Felt great and I even didn't get too sweaty. My colleagues reminded me that we do have a bike rack outside the office (as my bike was instead brought into my office). I was planning on riding home AFTER the 5 o'clock traffic but a late invitation to see my niece/nephew's piano recital necessitated that I leave early. Not a super pleasant experience but I still maintained the 20+ mph average. I figured I saved about $8 yesterday in gas. I can bet that it won't be only day I give the TL a rest. I enjoy riding. Yeah, no snow!

Worlds colliding

Thanks to my blog friend, Tim Sanders, for pointing out this article about the day and age we live in with Facebook, blogging, Twitter, and all of that. Yes, I have a face book account. Most of my friends are family and I really don't have many friends. I like it to be able to keep track of my cousins and other (mainly my teenagers). I have been keeping this blog for 4+ years. I've never done Twitter and I IM once in a while. My favorite part of the article is where the author likens today to an episode of Seinfeld where George freaks out about his worlds colliding when his fiancee starts hanging out with his friends. Well, that's my thought today. Now I'm off to the pool!

Happy Father's Day

Can't think of a better Father's Day gift than having my children by my side. JJ was supposed to give a talk today in Church but was feeling under the weather. We had a great time. (picture to be added)

Flag Day

I don't know about your neighborhood but in my neighborhood the Boy Scouts put up flags on the front yard of every home for most of the major holidays. It is a pretty cool sight to see all of these flags. It also helps to put things in perspective. (picture to come)

lies lies lies yeah (they're gonna get you)

Okay, this isn't my favorite Thompson Twins song but those who know me know that this was the best concert I went to as a teenager. I love this song and have it not only on my ancient iPod mini but also my shuffle (which sadly ran out of juice on Saturday while I was swimming). Enjoy the video.

You can even have the lyrics!

HTFU and CTFO

I couldn't say it any better than Sara so here you go! For me? I'm definitely HTFU.

Doublemint Twins

The next generation. The original Doublemint twins were Jenny (my sister and Becca's mom) and our cousin Julie. At any/all family gatherings they hung out together and often had matching outfits. Thanks to Olive and Becca they can carry on the tradition. Hopefully, in 20-30 years, they can have girls that will be just like them. We gave the "Sweet Tooth" shirt to Becca last week for her birthday. Olive spent the night at her cousins last night and they had a blast (of course because they went swimming).

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

The first Saturday of June the Davis family celebrates the birthday of Orvil Burdell Davis (my grandfather). It's a great time to get everyone together. So many of us where there today and some of my cousins game from Las Vegas and even Florida. It was good to see them all. Part of the tradition is that we have yummy dutch oven dinner. We usually all meet at grandma's house but because of the weather we met at the "Easter" church. So what does all of this have to do with this picture? Well, as part of getting together there are usually pictures and other memorabilia sitting out for us to look at. One of those things was this patchwork quilt that we (I'm using this in a very loose sense) put together 26 years ago. Yes, 26 years ago we each got to design our own "square". I'm sitting here next to mine. 26 years ago would put me at 16 years old. So what was on my mind then? Well, let's see: basketball, football, track, skiing, tennis, racquetball, baseball. Any and all sports. Of course back then, I knew NOTHING of hockey, nor the wonderful sport of the triathlete. I'll tell you, it was SO cool to see that quilt. Someone should break it out in another 25 years to show our grandchildren. That is what memories are all about. That is what traditions are all about. This is what family is all about. In addition to the quit there were some past family photos of Davis camp and then some journals of some past family home evenings we had as an entire Davis family. So cool. What a testimony of the importance of keeping a journal and writing things down for posterity. We did take a big family picture and if/when I get my hands on a copy, I'll be sure to post it here.

Summer's here.....well sort of

How do I know that it's summer? The bubble is removed from AF pool. It's probably been off for a couple of weeks but today was my first chance to swim outside. Boy did it feel great. I SO MUCH prefer to swim outside then inside like I've been doing for the past 10 freakin' months. The only mishap of the morning was while attempting a flip turn my big toe caught the top edge of the pool and sliced it open. As I continued to swim, a nice trail of blood followed me. It's a good thing I wasn't swimming in the ocean.

I SO much enjoyed the pool today and Olive and I went back this afternoon for 2 more hours of fun. She likes the water just as much as I do. I can tell you that she and I will be spending lots of time at the pool this summer. She is a pretty good swimmer already (albeit never had any formal lessons). Good times.

Stay off the sidewalks

Holy smokes, Batman. Can you believe this? JJ got his driving learning permit. He is SO excited. Dad is NOT excited. Have you seen the movie "Dan in Real Life"? "Dad, can I drive? If you don't let me drive I'll never learn. But I'm afraid if I let you drive, you'll never live." I am NOT prepared for him (or any of my children) to drive but I realize I can't stop it. It's a good job JJ has Rich because yesterday he grabbed JJ and said "Let's go" and off they went. JJ even took grammy for a ride in HER car. Grammy's first grandchild is driving.

Does this count for my service hours?

What is she doing? Actually Olivia is helping with JJ's Eagle project. He is ALMOST done. We are quite pleased. So what do you ask is he doing? First of all, let me remind you that this is Eagle Project #5 (I think). For one reason or another he started a number of other project but this one stuck. For the first part he had to identify all of the the storm drains in our city and then glue on a vinyl sticker that tells people not to dump their crap. Part of the preparation is to scrape the concrete before gluing on the sticker.

We present the class of 2008!

A BIG congrats to Alexandra Lee Davis. Somehow she was able to pull it out and barely graduate from the most popular high school in the world. Just kidding. Ali was the senior class president of East High Leopards. She was a straight A student and graduated with honors. She had scholarships to a number of universities and for some strange reason chose Utah State University. I think my father had given up all hope that any of his children would attend his alma mater. Besides student leadership, Ali was a big part of the back to back state swimming championships. She is an accomplished piano player and many, many other talents. The graduation ceremony was held at Abravanel Hall. I was quite impressed with their new school principal, Paul Sagers. This was his first year and he had made quite an impact on the students. For example, he had a goal to lose 100 pounds this year and he promised the students that if he did, he would take them all to Raging Waters. Again, congrats to Ali!

If you can't find me...

I'll be here at my new training facility. The pool is over a 1,000 yards long. Can you believe that? Go for a workout, down and back and you're done. Who wants to join me?

A gentle reminder

I started this blog almost 4 years ago. I enjoy writing about many different things. Something I wish I could write about but will eventually. Earlier tonight while reading a blog of a friend of a friend I came across this quote:

"You likewise will have significant experiences. I hope that you will write them down and keep a record of them, that you will read them from time to time and refresh your memory of these meaningful and significant things. Some of them may be funny. Some may be of significance only to you. Some of them may be sacred and quietly beautiful. Some may build one upon another until they represent a lifetime of special experience. " - Gordon B. Hinckley

So of course I quickly googled the quote and found the original speech. I haven't read it completely yet (I will tomorrow) but felt impressed to write this post.